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Endangered fish released into San Juan

by The Associated Press

Article Last Updated; Thursday, November 05, 2009 11:58AM

FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) - The San Juan River in northwestern New Mexico has gotten an infusion of more than 3,000 endangered roundtail chubs.

The New Mexico Game and Fish Department announced Wednesday that the fish were released into the river in late October.

Roundtail chub were once found throughout the Colorado River basin, including the San Juan River and its tributaries in New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. The species was listed as threatened under the New Mexico Wildlife Conservation Act in 1975 and uplisted to endangered in 1996.

The chubs that were released were raised in the Colorado Division of Wildlife Native Species Hatchery.

They were stocked in the San Juan near the confluence with the Animas River, high in the system in the hope that they will disperse downstream into suitable habitat.